Correct quizzes and make note cards from quiz questions (We call this "studying.")

Make a list of notes needed to get from a friend in the case of absence

Make a list of questions to address with teachers

Identify particular areas of struggle anytime during the semester. Go back and relearn that material because it will be on the exam.

Pretty straight-up stuff.

Students also filled in their exam calendars with what subjects they will study each day. Please encourage boys to avoid their tendency toward Destructive Optimism. Woe be unto those who "feel good about it" when considering their preparation. Borrowing from a pop culture iconic movie moment, we often say, "Show me the study."

Consider telling the boys that studying is manual labor, and there is always a visible product at the end of manual labor. For example, if a hole is to be dug, the correct tool (shovel) and the end result (hole) are there for all to see. Huffing and puffing and pushing soil around is not enough. No hole, no completed task.

Same with studying. "Show me the written evidence of your studying," should be said by each parent to these guys. Organized stacks of books and sharpened pencils alone won't cut it. More, osmosis is no winning study strategery just as it is no way to dig a hole. Wishful thinking, hope, best intentions... these things spring eternal with our boys. Thus, we offer the warning for parents to help the boys avoid Destructive Optimism...good feelings about the state of reality with no evidence to show for it, thereby producing dismal results.

Locker clean-out, exam prep, seventh grade hallway

Big idea: We stressed the importance of studying a little every day, with daily written evidence, rather than cramming in the end. Students typically underestimate the amount of time they need to study for exams (Destructive Optimism), so more time broken down on the task (linked documents above) is the prescribed formula as long as the environment (exam war room) is conducive for incremental, focused, and productive study sessions. All that should accumulate into strong retention and recall come December 15-19.

In other words, exams grades (25% of the semester grade) should be an improvement over the first two quarters' grades given this concentrated focus with review material.

Encourage the boys to aim high this exam season and support the lofty expectations with physical evidence of their hard work. We got that idea from Henry David Thoreau.

November 24, 2014

Saturday night, January 10, the annual MUS Lower School dance hits the Campus Center. Both Hutchison School and St. Mary's School girls are invited. In addition, MUS boys are encouraged to ask a girl not enrolled in either of the two invited schools as the kids have friendships from all over the city. MUS enrolls about 200 boys into grades seven and eight.

The two girls school's combined seventh and eighth grades come close to our sum, but understandably they do not all choose to attend, so the addition of girls enrolled into other schools helps diversify the crowd given that our boys come to us from a number of area feeder schools. So, it results in quite a mix, and that's the way we like it.

November 20, 2014

image: Richard Faber's campaign poster for president of student government while he was a student at Memphis State University.

MUS seventh grader, Sam Faber, experienced some very troubling news November 7 as his father, Richard, was walking across the intersection at Poplar Avenue and Massey when he was struck by a car. The injuries he sustained are serious, and we have permission from the family to share the updates on his recovery through #RichFaberGetWell, a blog maintained by his wife and Sam's mother Melissa.

November 11, 2014

So as not to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, the MUS-sponsored recreational league basketball teams play in the East Shelby Church Recreation Association augmenting the interscholastic seventh and eighth grade teams who play in the Shelby League. In all, we will have about 80 Lower School boys participating in basketball this winter.

The schedule is public in early December, and league games begin January 3, 2015. Practices for all Buzzards teams (seventh grade teams and eighth grade teams are forming now by word-of-mouth) begin on Wednesday December 3 after school, 2:30-3:30 p.m.

As we enter the last month before exams, second quarter progress reports are being entered through central command as we type, should be ready Thursday. The quarter ends December 12, exams begin Monday, December 15 and run until the end of the week.

During assemblies, we encouraged faithful attendance into either faculty offices for teacher meetings, math labs, and English labs for all students seeking space to clarify and master any particular assignment or concept. A great exercise for parents in this process is to review the impending progress reports and require teacher signatures from any subject in which Junior should spend some extra time, either before school, during school or after school.

If you check the poll results (column to the left), you can see a wide range of responses as to how parents gage the year so far. Admittedly, there is some volatility during the adjustment to a competitive environment, but we as a school seek to provide a safe environment conducive to learning as best we know how. Opportunities abound for individualized instruction, and we are here to help the boys.

It's business time during this stretch before Thanksgiving, and encourage and expect a growing scholarly maturity within our ranks.

To add, accountability encourages the Owl. These are youngsters who require oversight, frequent check-ins, short-term goals, measurable assessments. Err on the side of trust with ubiquitous verification. That way, the boy grows up (everyone's goal in this process), experiencing how the work of his own hands leads him to understanding, quality relationships, liberty, and happiness.